Moss ball saves tank

Moss ball saves tank

Hi folks, so welcome back! Well life has been busy since the introduction of our little one Tomas. He is 6 months old now, and well life has become so busy that I have no time for my favourite hobby, caring for my beautiful tropical aquarium. Those of you with kids will understand how your house becomes neglected. Thankfully, I discovered the wonders of moss balls online! http://www.australia.for-sale.com/moss-balls. These little balls have saved my talk from utter destruction, and actually look really cute.

Living plants

Live plants are very beneficial for aquariums. They do everything from absorb toxic nitrates to give your animals a natural, beautiful environment to live in. Unfortunately though, not all of us have green thumbs. Over the years, I have struggled to keep fish and live plants in my aquariums, even easy ones like Anacharis and Jungle Val, both of which have died on me. There is a secret that I will share with you that is guaranteed to help save your aquarium. Out of all the live plants I have had in my aquariums, there is one plant (well, sort of plant) that has not failed me - the Marimo moss ball.

Moss Balls

Quality products

The moss ball is not to be confused with cheap knockoffs, plastic or foam spheres wrapped in Java. Instead, Marimo moss balls are little squishy balls of algae that look a lot like moss, hence the name. In the wild, they roll along the bottoms of rivers, giving them their round shape. They are also viewed as charms in Japan, and even treated as pets. They will improve the quality of life in your tank, which will in turn help keep plants alive, and then obviously improve the life of the fish in your tank.

Absorbs nitrate nasties and increases essential oxygen

Like live plants, moss balls absorb nitrates. Any nitrate absorbent is a benefit to your tank’s ecosystem. Moss balls are also like little filters, sucking up debris and small amounts of ammonia and phosphates. Like plants in general, moss balls suck up CO2 and release oxygen in the water. If you don’t like noisy air stones, some Marimo moss balls are a great addition to help you oxygenate your tank.

Use Algae to starve undesirable Algae

Marimo moss balls suck up the same nutrients as algae, depriving unwanted algae of those nutrients. If you give your tank a good clean, then use the moss balls to help keep algae under control, for larger aquariums you will need a lot of moss balls.

Minimal Maintenance

The only thing you will need to think about is every now and then you will need to take the moss balls out of the tank and squeezed them out. The moss balls will sucks up a lot of filth and debris over time, like a sponge. But it also absorbs more than it can chew, and the nasty stuff eventually leaches out. So every time you perform a partial water change, just remember to take out the moss ball, squeeze it over a bucket or sink, and toss it right back into the tank. It will float at the surface for a while unless you squeeze it again while underwater. Floating won’t hurt them, in fact, the balls can float up to the surface on their own from internal gasses, as well as sink on their own.

There is another small task you will need do every now and again. You will need to move your moss balls around every once in awhile to keep its rounded shape, as well as to provide some lighting on every surface to avoid dead patches. But if you are performing routine gravel cleanings and squeezing the moss ball every week or two, then you’re accomplishing this anyway.

Squeeze your balls to clean

New Hobbies

Now, obviously life after a little one changes, but I didn’t expect such a change from all my hobbies.

My new hobbies include a lot more TV watching, and I have to share with you my new favourite film, Finding Nemo. I absolutely love this film, the characters are adorable and as an Aussie, it has a brilliant way of capturing all the Australian accents and laid back lifestyle of the quintessential Australian. It has a score of 8.2 from IMDB for good reason. My favourite scene is when the fish in the talk try to stage an escape plan. They do this by planning to make the tank super filthy and then the Dentist (the owner of the tank) will have to clean the tank, he would then have to remove the fish, placing them in separate bags by the window, of which the fish would all roll themselves out the window, across the road and bounce into the harbour, but after blocking the filter in the tank and making the talk filthy, the Dentist puts in a AquaScum 3000 during the night and it cleans the talk automatically. The plan is foiled. I wish the Aquascum 3000 actually existed and cleaned my tank overnight.